Exploration and 19th-century development Indigenous inhabitants of Galveston Island called the island
Auia. Though there is no certainty regarding their route and their landings,
Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were shipwrecked at a place he called "Isla de Malhado" in November 1528. This could have referred to Galveston Island or
San Luis Island. During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia labeled the water features surrounding the island "Bd. de Galvestown" and "Bahia de Galvestowm" [
sic]. He was working under the orders of Bernardo de Gálvez. In his early chart, he called the western end of the island "Isla de San Luis" and the eastern end "Pt. de Culebras". Evia did not label the island itself on his map of 1799. Just five years later,
Alexander von Humboldt borrowed the place names Isla de San Luis, Pte. De Culebras, and Bahia de Galveston. Stephen F. Austin followed his predecessors in the use of "San Luis Island", but introduced "Galveston" to refer to the little village at the east end of the island. Evidence of the name Galveston Island appears on an 1833 map by David H. Burr. Lafitte organized Galveston into a pirate "kingdom" he called "Campeche", anointing himself the island's "head of government". Lafitte remained in Galveston until 1821, when the
United States Navy forced him and his raiders off the island. In 1825 the
Congress of Mexico established the
Port of Galveston and in 1830 erected a
customs house. Galveston served as the capital of the
Republic of Texas when in 1836 the
interim president
David G. Burnet relocated his government there. As Anglo-Americans migrated to the city, they brought along or purchased
enslaved African Americans, some of whom worked domestically or on the waterfront, including on riverboats. In 1839, the City of Galveston adopted a charter and was incorporated by the Congress of the
Republic of Texas. The city was by then a burgeoning
port of entry and attracted many new residents in the 1840s and later among the flood of
German immigrants to Texas, including Jewish merchants. Together with ethnic Mexican residents, these groups tended to oppose slavery, support the Union during the Civil War, and join the
Republican Party after the war. During this expansion, the city had many "firsts" in the state, with the founding of institutions and adoption of inventions: post office (1836), naval base (1836), Texas chapter of a
Masonic order (1840); cotton compress (1842), Catholic
parochial school (Ursuline Academy) (1847), insurance company (1854), and gas lights (1856). During the
American Civil War,
Confederate forces under
Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying
Union troops from the city in January 1863 in the
Battle of Galveston. On June 19, 1865, two months after the
end of the war and almost three years after the issuance of the
Emancipation Proclamation, General
Gordon Granger of the Union Army informed the enslaved people of Texas that they were now free. This news was transmitted via
General Order No. 3, an event now commemorated on the
federal holiday of
Juneteenth. After the Civil War, Galveston mandated street improvements and construction standards. The city required property owners facing commercial streets to construct and maintain sidewalks of wooden planks or bricks, or pay an assessment to the city for the construction of the same. During the same period, the city drew a boundary known as a "fire zone", within which new buildings could not be constructed of wood. In 1867 Galveston suffered a
yellow fever epidemic; about 1800 people died in the city. These occurred in waterfront and river cities throughout the 19th century, as did
cholera epidemics. catered to vacationers until a fire in 1898. The city's progress continued through the
Reconstruction era with numerous "firsts": construction of the opera house (1870), and orphanage (1876), installation of telephone lines (1878) and electric lights (1883). Having attracted
freedmen from rural areas, in 1870 the city had a black population that totaled 3,000, made up mostly of former slaves but also by persons who were
free men of color and educated before the war. Blacks comprised nearly 25% of the city's population of 13,818 that year. During the post–Civil War period, leaders such as George T. Ruby and
Norris Wright Cuney, who headed the
Texas Republican Party and promoted
civil rights for
freedmen, helped to dramatically improve educational and employment opportunities for blacks in Galveston and in Texas. Cuney established his own business of stevedores and a union of black dockworkers to break the white monopoly on dock jobs. Galveston was a cosmopolitan city and one of the more successful during Reconstruction; the
Freedmen's Bureau was headquartered here. German families sheltered teachers from the North, and hundreds of freedmen were taught to read. Its business community promoted progress, and immigrants stayed after arriving at this port of entry. By the end of the 19th century, the city of Galveston had a population of 37,000. Its position on the natural harbor of
Galveston Bay along the Gulf of Mexico made it the center of trade in Texas. It was one of the nation's largest cotton ports, in competition with
New Orleans. Throughout the 19th century, the port city of Galveston grew rapidly and the Strand was considered the region's primary business center. For a time, the Strand was known as the "Wall Street of the
South". In the late 1890s, the government constructed
Fort Crockett defenses and coastal artillery batteries in Galveston and along the Bolivar Roads. In February 1897, the (nicknamed Old Hoodoo), the first commissioned
battleship of the United States Navy, visited Galveston. During the festivities, the ship's officers were presented with a $5,000 silver service, adorned with various Texas motifs, as a gift from the state's citizens.
Hurricane of 1900 and recovery On September 8, 1900, the island was struck by a devastating
hurricane. This
event holds the record as the United States' deadliest
natural disaster. The city was devastated, and an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people on the island were killed. Despite attempts to draw investment to the city after the hurricane, Galveston never returned to its levels of national importance or prosperity. Development was also hindered by the construction of the
Houston Ship Channel, which brought the
Port of Houston into competition with the natural harbor of the
Port of Galveston for sea traffic. Finally, the
Seawall itself created an insurmountable problem: passive erosion resulting in the gradual disappearance of the once-wide beach and the resort business with it. "Within twenty years, the city had lost one hundred yards of sand. People who once watched auto racing on a wide beach were left with a narrow strip of sand at low tide and a gloomy vista of waves on rocks when the tide was high." To further its recovery and rebuild its population, Galveston actively solicited
immigration. Through the efforts of
Rabbi Henry Cohen and
Congregation B'nai Israel, Galveston became the focus of an immigration plan called the
Galveston Movement that, between 1907 and 1914, diverted roughly 10,000
Eastern European
Jewish immigrants from the usual destinations of the crowded cities of the
Northeastern United States. Additionally numerous other immigrant groups, including
Greeks,
Italians and
Russian Jews, came to the city during this period. This immigration trend substantially altered the ethnic makeup of the island, as well as many other areas of Texas and the western U.S. Unfortunately, just as the island was starting to recover from the devastation caused by the first flood, a second one struck in August, 1915, thanks to a major hurricane that originated in the central Atlantic, tore through the Caribbean, and then left a long trail of destruction across the Gulf of Mexico before it dissipated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, nearly three weeks later. While the newly constructed seawall spared the island the worst, over 400 Galvestonians died, and damages totaled $30 million USD, equivalent to $903 million in 2023. Thus, in less than a single generation Galveston went from being Texas' most populous (and most important) city to being a tragic footnote to a century of frontier violence, urban lawlessness and civic greed, throughout the state. Though the storms stalled economic development and the city of Houston developed as the region's principal metropolis, Galveston economic leaders recognized the need to diversify from the traditional port-related industries. In 1905
William Lewis Moody, Jr. and
Isaac H. Kempner, members of two of Galveston's leading families, founded the
American National Insurance Company. Two years later, Moody established the City National Bank, which would become the
Moody National Bank. During the 1920s and 1930s, the city re-emerged as a major tourist destination. Under the influence of
Sam Maceo and
Rosario Maceo, the city exploited the
prohibition of liquor and gambling in clubs like the
Balinese Room, which offered entertainment to wealthy Houstonians and other out-of-towners. Combined with prostitution, which had existed in the city since well before the American Civil War, Galveston became known as the "sin city" of the Gulf. Galvestonians accepted and supported the illegal activities, often referring to their island as the "
Free State of Galveston". The island had entered what would later become known as the "open era". The 1930s and 1940s brought much change to the Island City. During
World War II, the Galveston Municipal Airport, predecessor to
Scholes International Airport, was re-designated a U.S.
Army Air Corps base and named "Galveston Army Air Field". In January 1943, Galveston Army Air Field was officially activated with the
46th Bombardment Group serving an
anti-submarine role in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1942, William Lewis Moody, Jr., along with his wife Libbie Shearn Rice Moody, established the
Moody Foundation to benefit "present and future generations of Texans". The foundation, one of the largest in the United States, would play a prominent role in Galveston during later decades, helping to fund numerous civic and health-oriented programs.
After World War II , 1961 The end of the war drastically reduced military investment in the island. Increasing enforcement of gambling laws and the growth of
Las Vegas, Nevada, as a competitive center of gambling and entertainment put pressure on the gaming industry on the island. Finally in 1957,
Texas Attorney General Will Wilson and the
Texas Rangers began a massive campaign of raids that disrupted gambling and prostitution in the city. As these vice industries crashed, so did tourism, taking the rest of the Galveston economy with it. Neither the economy nor the culture of the city was the same afterward. In 1947, buildings in the city were damaged when a ship carrying 2,200 tons of
ammonium nitrate exploded at the nearby
Port of Texas City, in what became known as the
Texas City disaster. The island's economy began a long stagnation. Many businesses relocated off the island during this period, but health care, insurance, and financial industries continue to be strong contributors to the economy. By 1959, the city of Houston had long outpaced Galveston in population and economic growth. Beginning in 1957, the
Galveston Historical Foundation began its efforts to preserve historic buildings. The 1966 book
The Galveston That Was helped encourage the preservation movement. Restoration efforts financed by motivated investors, notably Houston businessman
George P. Mitchell, gradually developed the
Strand Historic District and reinvented other areas. A new, family-oriented tourism emerged in the city over many years. In September 1961,
Hurricane Carla struck the city, generating an F4 tornado that killed eight and injured 200. With the 1960s came the expansion of higher education in Galveston. Already home to the University of Texas Medical Branch, the city got a boost in 1962 with the creation of the Texas Maritime Academy, predecessor of
Texas A&M University at Galveston; and by 1967, a
community college,
Galveston College, had been established. In the 2000s, property values rose after expensive projects were completed, and demand for second homes by the wealthy increased. It has made it difficult for middle-class workers to find affordable housing on the island.
Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island in the early morning of September 13, 2008, as a category-2 hurricane with winds of 110 miles per hour. Damage was extensive to buildings along the seawall. After the storm, the island was rebuilt with investments in tourism and shipping, and continued emphasis on higher education and health care, notably the addition of the
Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier and the replacement of the
bascule-type
drawbridge on the railroad causeway with a
vertical-lift-type drawbridge to allow heavier freight. ==Geography==